Left handed expressions

The left side is often associated in language with awkwardness and clumsiness (because right-handers think left-handed people look awkward using the tools that they have specifically designed to make them backwards for us!). the Spanish expression “tener dos pies izquierdos”, In English, the expression “to have two left feet” refers to clumsiness in the domains of football or dancing.

A “left-handed compliment” is considered one that is unflattering or dismissive in meaning.

The Welsh phrase “tu chwith allan” (left side out) refers to an object being inside-out. In Russian, the use of the term nalyevo means “on the left”, but can also connotate taking bribes or “sneaky” behavior. Balszerencse (lit. “left luck”) is Hungarian for “bad luck”.

If you have any more information on any of these sayings or know others from your country, please
add them as a comment to this article.

34 comments on “Left handed expressions”

When I was a girl in the midlands, I remember being called “caggy handed”, which I hated! I can also remember telling my needlework teacher at school that I did things differently because of being left-handed and received the response, “No wonder you always get things wrong!”

i’m from serbia, and in serbian language when someone wakes up cranky we say “ustao na levu nogu” witch means got up from the bed on the left foot. and when somebody is clumsy we say “ima dve leve ruke” witch means he’s got two left hands. the same goes for feet.

I grew up in Glasgow in the 1940’s and 50’s. We lefties were called corrie-fisted, and in primary school the teachers would rap us over the fingers with a blackboard pointer to get us to change. Some did, but I was too stubborn, and so I’m a proud corrie fister to this day. Hence my pen name. The word corrie is said to come from the Gaelic cearr meaning left, or wrong hand. There are also some local versions, such as caurrie-haundit and corrie dukit.

I was the only one out of four boys in our family that turned out left handed, and I got all kinds of comments from all of them, I never changed to what they wanted, its how I learned and will always be good old left handed. I bat right handed, use a right hand mouse, when I first started using computers that’s all they had I never questioned could I change it I found out much later it was programmable so I am a right mouser. Many tools we use are awkward to use as us lefty s know, I just do the best I can, but I do shoot left handed even have a left handed bolt action rifle special order naturally, it even cost more for a left handed bolt action rifle.

Hi everybody! I`m from Argentina, overhere there exists the expression “levantarse con el pie izquierdo” (getting up on one`s left foot) whicha means that you won`t have a lucky day. Another colloquial expression is “hacer algo por zurda” (to do something through your left side) meaning “to do sth ilegally or at least not following the “right” (= correct) way for doing so.

Ambidextrous is an English word describing a person who is equally capable with either hand. Its roots in Latin are ambi and dexter, meaning two right hands or right handed on both sides.

Ambisinistrous is another English word. It refers to a person who is equally clumsy with either hand. Its roots in Latin are ambi and sinister, meaning two left hands or left handed on both sides. Sinister also means evil in Latin, just as it does today in English. There have been quite a number of times and cultures in history which viewed left handedness as evil, hence this dual meaning in Latin of sinister.

I knew the phrase ambisinitrous (bah!), and was pleased that you correctly definined ambidextrous as being someone who can do most/all things equally well with both hands. True ambidextrous people are rare, and most people [incorrectly] use the word for people that do some things better with their left hand, and some things better with their right hand. Probably a better word (and the one that I use) for that is ambilateral; meaning pertaining to or affecting both sides. Ambi (meaning both) and lateral (meaning sides). See the additional two definitions from Dictionary.com here:(caps are my emphases)
1. of or pertaining to the side; situated at, proceeding from, or DIRECTED TO A SIDE: a lateral view.
2. pertaining to or entailing a position, office, etc., THAT IS DIFFERENT BUT EQUIVALENT OR ROUGHLY EQUIVALENT IN STATUS, as distinguished from a promotion or demotion: a lateral move

growing up in Kenya we had a house maid who, having been brought up in the rural areas, was not really happy with my left handedness and felt that my parents should have forced me to use my right. She was constantly teasing me about it (in swahili) and one of the common phrases she’d use was, ‘unatumia mkono wa mavi’ which very bluntly translates to ‘you use the poop hand’ since apparently most people use their left hands to (again put very bluntly) wipe themselves. Needless to say i wasn’t really amused by that (being a kid of around 7 or 8) and would sometimes wish i was right handed. I’m throughly glad to be a lefty now though

I’m from Israel, and in Hebrew the expression “lakum beregel smol” means to get up on your left foot and implies that you’ll have a bad day. There’s also an expression “lakum beregel yamin” meaning to get up on your right foot, implying ypou’ll have a good day.

Hi, I’m Welsh and speak the language as my first language. “tu chwith allan” does translate to mean “left side out”, meaning inside-out, however i don’t use the phrase personally or hear anyone else using it really. “Chwith” means left and the word is used in everyday Welsh conversation in its literal meaning. However there are a couple of other “chwith” words, such as “CHWITHDOD”, meaning “a sense of STRANGENESS” and “CHWITHIG” meaning “AWKWARD”. “O CHWITH” translates to “the WRONG way” and “y mae’n CHWITH gennyf glywed….” translates to “I am SORRY to hear…”

In Asante Twi (a dialect in Ghana ) there is a saying “Obi nfa ne nsa benkum nkyere n’agya kurom” (one does not point to the father’s home town with the left hand)
And it means one does not disrespect his/her origins

Nama is right except that Asante is a language not a dialect in Ghana. Of course Asante Twi is a dialect of the twi language. In my mother tongue Ewe the saying “ele nu wom to mia me” meaning “he does things through the left side’ implies the person does not follow the generally accepted way of doing things. It is an insult actually. It is as if the person’s brain does not function normally.

Ama is right except that Asante is a language not a dialect in Ghana. Of course Asante Twi is a dialect of the twi language. In my mother tongue Ewe the saying “ele nu wom to mia me” meaning “he does things through the left side’ implies the person does not follow the generally accepted way of doing things. It is an insult actually. It is as if the person’s brain does not function normally.

That’s what I’d like to call “handist”, my friend. It really sucks, living in a right-handed world where the majority of the world’s population is right-handed and don’t care about the special minority. Also, I wonder why there are less lefties in every culture? Why is the right hand more common?

Cuddy is certainly Geordie for donkey (or, according to Stephen Hill above, pony or horse). Wifter I don’t know, though I would guess at hand, as I have a feeling to wift is to deflect (a ball or similar) with the hand, or to smite someone. (Another has said a cuddy wifter is a telling blow with the left, which sounds very plausible – like southpaw.) I _presume_ there is some negative connotation, as in the cussedness of donkeys, but don’t know for sure.